Onus | Jo Cork | Sheetal Maru | Bartosz Szafranski | Milap
Onus explores what it is to be a person of multiple cultural identities. The work follows a woman as she finds ground between her Indian heritage and her experience growing up as a Western citizen - as she discovers who she is, and who she can can become, in a globalised world. Reflecting the choreographer’s lived experience, the work uses non-traditional interpretations of classical forms of dance and music.
Credits:
Director: Jo Cork @jocorkdancedigi
Concept and Choreography: Sheetal Maru @_sheetalmaru_
Writers: Jo Cork and Sheetal Maru
Producer: Sheetal Maru
Filming, Editing and Post Production: Jo Cork
Sound Design and Score: Bartosz Szafranski @bart_szaf
Performer: Sheetal Maru
Creative Assistance: Maria Malone @mariamiamalone
Set Assistance: Pravinder Singh
With special thanks to:
Thomas and Brenda Dwerryhouse, Balbir Singh Digpal, the team at Peel L&P’s Wirral Waters @peellandp @wirralwaters, Movema @movemadance and Milap @milapfest.
Shot on location at:
Singh Autos, Rock Ferry
Hydraulic Tower, Birkenhead
Commissioned by Milap
Supported by Movema
Bios:
JO CORK is an independent dance artist, choreographer, screendance practitioner, and dance film maker, drawing on exploration of the human experience to create her work. She is interested in the territory between choreographic practice and film composition and in finding effective ways to use digital formats of work to bring dance to broader audiences and more diverse venues.
In 2016, she completed the award winning dance film, Sensate and has since developed numerous screendance works including films, multi-screen/device and hologram installations, and pieces utilising QR codes and elements of augmented reality. Her works have been shown across the globe in festival settings, art galleries and museums, as well as in less conventional spaces including pubs and restaurants. Jo is a Studio Wayne
McGregor QuestLab Artist since 2019.
Jo completed an MA in Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School in 2020. She is a lecturer in Screendance / Dance and Film at Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London Contemporary Dance School and Institute for Contemporary Theatre. She has also guest lectured at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, London College of
Music, and University of Suffolk, alongside offering mentoring to numerous professional independent dance artists and companies.
www.jocorkdancedigi.com
SHEETAL MARU is an independent dance practitioner, choreographer, performer and multi-disciplinary artist. After working internationally on projects in Brazil and Switzerland, she focused more on the commercial sector of the dance industry. Her television credits include Müller Yoghurt (Berlin), Desi Rascals, Bolly Flex and recently BBC’s Dance Passion Liverpool: Find the Feeling. One of her highlights has been performing at The 02 Arena, London in front of 10,000 people.
Sheetal is currently Senior Associate Artist with Milap and award-winning World Dance Company, Movema. Sheetal is also one of 5 selected artists for Wild Fire Rising. Sheetal’s passion lies in transforming the lives of others through dance. She truly believes dance has the power to ignite education, transform and unite communities. Recently, Sheetal directed a project ‘Shakti’ where she trained 25 people from non-dance backgrounds; the group performed at The National Diversity awards in front of an audience 500 strong and was televised.
Sheetal is also Creative Director of hair and makeup artistry at RuShee, who’s work continues to empower women and emerging artists through the Indian Arts.
www.rushee.co.uk
BARTOSZ SZAFRANSKI is a composer with a focus on visual media. His primary interests are in interactive music systems, music for picture, screendance, and modular music.
He has collaborated with filmmaker and choreographer Jo Cork on multidisciplinary projects (Sensate, Calibrate, Me in a Box, Audio-Visual Haptics); with filmmaker and 3D animator Stan Buczkowski (Blue Bird); and with the independent game development studio Cobble Games (Chains of Fury, Futurust). Since 2020, Bartosz has been an assistant to composer Richard Jacques (Ivor Novello winner, Grammy and Bafta nominee), beginning with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He is also a sessional lecturer in film and game music composition at the London College of Music.
www.bartoszszafranski.co
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ONUS Screenings:
BBC Dance Passion - Liverpool 2023. BBC4 television, UK
Dancinema Festival 2023. US curation, screened Online
Exeter International Dance Film Festival 2023. Exeter, UK.
InShadow Lisbon Screendance Festival 2023. Lisbon, Portugal.
Dançaemfoco International Festival of Video and Dance 2023. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Greensboro Dance Film Festival 2024. North Carolina, US.
The Indie Channel 2024. Independent Cinema Channel, UK
Brighton Screendance Festival 2024. Brighton, UK
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Milap:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milapfest
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milapfest/